It is instructive now to look back at just where we were in those days. One third of tax revenue was going to service interest on our national debt. Up to 90% of income tax receipts went to service the national debt. We were not just failing to pay our way in day to day terms but were running a current budget deficit of up to 8% of national output each year. In the space of just five years, between 1982 and 1987, our national debt actually doubled from €11.7 billion to €23.7, and all of that took place against a backdrop of punitive tax rates on investment, enterprise and work. It is hardly surprising that national confidence effectively evaporated. Mass unemployment and mass emigration were the inevitable consequences of our inability to manage public finances properly.